Give Unto Me
by Celtic Aurora
Summary: Set during Night Warriors. As she played the long silent piano, Gabrielle couldn't help but wonder what horrors tormented Van Helsing in his dreams. And she couldn't help but wish she could help him. Songfic.


_**A/N: **Hello, everyone! Lookie here! Another surprise before I go back to school-a songfic! It's set during chapter nineteen of **Night Warriors, **with Gabrielle in the piano room sometime before Van Helsing woke up. Just sort of a little insight into the mind of Gabrielle Alexandra Valerious._

_**Song Used: **"Give Unto Me" by **Evanescence**, from the 1999 **Sound Asleep EP**_

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Van Helsing, and I don't own the song._

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Gabrielle stared up at the canopy over her head, unable to sleep. The bed beneath her felt all wrong…there was something strange about sleeping in a soft, comfortable-albeit old and slightly musty-bed when she had grown accustomed to breaking into her family's crypt and sleeping in an old stone coffin for nearly seven years now.

She rolled over on her stomach, resting her head on her arms…it still didn't help. She sighed, shook her head, and rolled over again, rolling off the bed. She pushed aside the moth-eaten curtains, leaving the room, intending to head down to the cellar of Van Helsing Manor. Seeing as it had been abandoned for three and a half centuries, she was almost dead certain that there would be a plentiful amount of rats for her to feed on.

_Not my dinner of choice…_she mused as she moved down the hallway, towards the vast front staircase. _But…human blood…no. I refuse to be like them…I'm better than that. No matter how much I want it…I can't have it…_

A sudden loud gasp-almost as if in fright or shock-caught her attention. It came from behind the door she stood near. The door was ajar, and, in the room, Gabrielle could see Van Helsing's form sprawled on a bed, asleep-but not sleeping peacefully. His limbs twitched periodically, his head turned from side to side, and he was murmuring things that made no sense to Gabrielle whatsoever-some of what he was saying wasn't even in English…

She couldn't help but feel sympathy for him as she watched him caught in the throes of a hellish dream. She herself was no stranger to nightmares, but something told her the visions that were plaguing him were far worse than anything she had ever dreamt of.

She sighed, then turned away, continuing towards the staircase. She was…almost reluctant to leave him alone-but only because he seemed to be having such a horrible nightmare, she assured herself-but she knew there was nothing she could do…

_Besides…I don't want to wake him…_she thought to herself, descending the creaking stairs to the main foyer. She glanced first to her left, then to her right, trying to discern where she might find an entrance to the cellar, then she set off towards the left, knowing she'd find it eventually.

As she wandered down the darkened hallway, a door caught her eye. It was a set of double doors, and unlike most of the doors on that particular hallway…it was ajar. There was sheer darkness beyond the door, even though the sun had risen, deeming the room vampire-safe. Drawn by insatiable curiosity, Gabrielle gently pushed on the door, opening it further, then she slipped inside.

The darkness was deep, challenging even her advanced vampiric sight. But after a moment, her eyes adjusted enough for her to make out what appeared to be a half-melted candle on a small table not too far from her…and, with luck too good to be true, a rather small set of flint stones sat nearby, in lieu of matches, which didn't exist when the manor was last inhabited.

The flint felt clumsy in Gabrielle's hands, and it took her a good few minutes to manage to light the wick of the old candle. But, at long last, the sparks ignited the wick, and a flame flared. Gabrielle took the candle and held it up, to illuminate the room-and she drew in a breath of surprise at what she found.

In the middle of the room, in almost too good of shape for as long as it had been left in this abandoned manor, was a grand piano. The sight sent a pang of familiarity through her heart; memories came to her, memories of those long hours seated at her mother's side, her small fingers jumping from key to key, occasionally hesitating over a key, her mother's gentle patient voice encouraging her and kindly correcting her mistakes…

Gabrielle swallowed back the lump in her throat that those memories evoked, then approached the piano, almost reluctant to touch it, as if she feared it would vanish if she laid her fingers on it…it was real, though, standing before her, under her fingers. And it was beautiful…

She began to light the few, half-used candles on top of the piano, to provide just a touch more illumination to the room. As she did, something on the wall she was facing caught her eye; curious, she set aside the candle she had been lighting and held up the original candle, to better see what was on the wall.

A splendid portrait hung on the wall she was facing, one that almost took her breath away the same way the piano had. The subjects of the portrait were none other than Van Helsing and Catherine, both forever frozen in time by the oil paint. Catherine, who, in the portrait, was seated in a handsome wingback chair, appeared to be no older than eleven, still merely a girl, with large, shining blue eyes and rosy cheeks that still had a bit of youthful roundness to them. Her hair, a bit more wavy and full than Gabrielle ever remembered it being, hung down past her shoulders. She was wearing a beautiful midnight-blue dress-Gabrielle had to smirk upon seeing that, though, because nowadays, Catherine wouldn't be caught dead in a dress-and, instead of holding a flower or something else feminine in her lap, she held a silver-bladed dagger with an ornate hilt.

Van Helsing stood at Catherine's side, one hand on the back of the chair, the other wrapped around the hilt of a rather impressive broadsword. He was older than Catherine, roughly about sixteen or seventeen, nearing adulthood. He hardly looked different…his face was young, clean-shaven, and less-careworn, but he still had the same tall, strong body and messy, shoulder-length locks. His clothing was far more simple; he wore black breeches and black boots, a loose white tunic, and a black waistcoat…and, in his eyes…Gabrielle could see his eagerness for battle…and that same, vaguely wolfish gleam in those striking hazel orbs…

As Gabrielle sat down at the piano, reluctantly tearing her eyes away from the portrait, yet still feeling the painted eyes of the sixteen-year-old Van Helsing on her, her thoughts turned to the slumbering hunter upstairs. She couldn't help but wonder what was plaguing his dreams….wonder if nightmares were something common for him…

_Why am I thinking so much about him? _She thought to herself as her fingers drifted lazily over the keys of the piano, starting to unknowingly pluck out a slow, somewhat somber tune. _I mean…I should hate him. He killed Velkan…and Anna. She had such a life ahead of her. Her and Velkan both…_

_It wasn't his fault, though, _her mind argued. _He only killed Velkan to save him from what he had become. And Anna…he never meant to kill her…and I believe him when he says that not a day goes by that he doesn't regret what he did…_

"But still…" she mused aloud. "Why am I thinking about him so much?"

The melody she played was picking up now. Gabrielle trained her eyes on the keys, her fingers gently coaxing music from the long-silent piano. In turn, the music began to gently coax a song from her lips…

_I've been watching you from a distance  
__The distance sees through your disguise  
__All I want from you is your hurting  
__I want to heal you  
__I want to save you from the dark_

She paused for the briefest second, her vampiric hearing listening for the sounds of anyone coming. When she had assessed that no one was coming, she plundered on…

_Give unto me your troubles  
__I'll endure your suffering  
__Place unto me your burden  
__I'll drink your deadly poison_

As she continued to play, over and over, images of Van Helsing invaded her thoughts; the most prominent of the images being what she saw upstairs: him suffering in his sleep, plagued by nightmares.

Gabrielle shook her head fiercely, then returned to her playing, to her singing…

_Why should I care if they hurt you?  
__Somehow it matters more to me  
__Than if I were hurting myself_

Again, more images of the hunter came to her mind. She could see the torment on his face as he slept, the anguish in his eyes as he recalled killing Anna with his hands…

_Save you  
__I'll save you_

_Give unto me your troubles  
__I'll endure your suffering  
__Place unto me your burden  
__I'll drink your deadly poison_

Again, for only a moment, her playing died down, so she could make sure she hadn't awoken anyone. But again…no one was coming.

_Fear not the flame of my love's candle  
__Let it be the sun in your world of darkness  
__Give unto me all that frightens you  
__I'll have your nightmares for you  
__If you sleep soundly_

Gabrielle lapsed into a piano solo, her voice silenced as her fingers flew over the keys. The piano had always been her favorite instrument, playing it had always brought her ecstasy, and she had always put her heart and soul into her playing. She was putting her heart and soul in now, as she played…

The piano solo soon wound down, the song calling for more words. Now too enraptured by the music to care if she had awoken anyone, Gabrielle began to sing again…

_Give unto me your troubles  
__I'll endure your suffering  
__Place unto me your burden  
__I'll drink your deadly poison_

Her playing was soft and slow, now, almost the same somber tone it had once been. And then came her voice again, just as soft, barely more than a whisper…

_Fear not the flame of my love's candle  
__Let it be your sun in your world of darkness_

Gabrielle's fingers came to a rest on the keys, her song over. She glanced up at the portrait on the wall, still feeling the young hunter's painted eyes upon her. She also swore she saw a small smile on his lips…as if her playing had pleased him…

She shook her head, giving a derisive snort. "God, I must be going mad…thinking portraits are smiling at me. Get a hold of yourself, will you, Gabrielle..?"

Still murmuring rather darkly to herself, she turned her attention back to the piano. Conjuring up another song to play in her mind-anything to get her mind off of Van Helsing-her fingers began to jump across the keys again, sending another melody into the air for anyone who would listen.

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**_I hope you enjoyed it! Please, if you get the chance, take a listen to the song. It's a wonderful song. Read and review!_**


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